Being Human
by Lexifer666
Summary: April and Shredder accidentally share a safe house. Post 80's cartoon. Warnings: M rating for sex, violence and character deaths. One shot. Please review! I do not own the TMNT.


It was not the first time April had run for her life. Not even the first time since she had become a reporter. This felt different. Enormous, dinosaur-like creatures had invaded and decided to capture various cities on the planet for outposts. Of course, being the crazy magnet that it was, New York had to be one of them. She had been doing a live report when the fray between the army and the Triceratons ventured too close her way. Suddenly she was dodging cars and flames and gunfire, wondering why the hell she had ever wanted to be a reporter in the first place.

Panting heavily she cut through a demolished mall's parking lot and up a residential street, hoping for a place to catch her breath. Heavy artillery nearly deafened her from behind. Straight ahead a squad of Triceratons was making it's way towards the ruckus. They would outflank the human soldiers she realized, feeling helpless. She quickly dodged for cover before the squad spotted her, but her options for a real hiding place were extremely limited. Panicking, she started running from door to door of the ground floor apartments closest by, trying each of them desperately.

No one was leaving their doors unlocked today. Not while the ground was shaking with the sounds of war in their little urban jungle. The Triceratons were rushing forward now, readying their weapons to engage and back up their comrades. As they passed one looked at her as she throttled another door knob with prayers and curses on her tongue and his step faltered for a moment. About to have a heart attack, panting, sweat dripping down her brow, April thought this would be the end. She instead fell unceremoniously through the door she was trying, yelping as she hit the floor bottom first and kicked the door shut. She closed her eyes for a moment, learned to breath again, let the fuzzy haze of fear dissipate, then stood up.

She looked through the peephole, terrified she would find a giant yellow reptilian eye glaring back at her. Instead she saw the road, looking like a normal little side street. Apparently the aliens had way more important things to do than follow a stray human civilian into a house. Plenty of time for that later.

"What the hell took you idiots so long to get here?"

The harsh voice made April jump again. _Geeze this isn't even my first alien invasion, _April thought to herself. _ Calm down girl. _Of course the Kraang had been more subtle, and suddenly she missed the little brains.

She followed the sound of muffled male cursing through the kitchen on into the next room. It was furnished very basically and reminded April of a hotel room. Except the blood. There was blood all over the place.

"Good grief, what the hell are you doing here woman?"

It took a moment to recognize him without the helmet and mask, but the rest of the armor was there, all spikes and malice. Their eyes met for a moment and she saw the scar across the side of his face. He scowled and reached for his helmet but his normally fluid movements were hampered. She found her voice at last. "What are you doing here? Are you ok? What happened?"

"Get out," he returned gruffly as the mask returned over his features. "I am not in the mood for an interview."

Leaving was the last thing she wanted to do. Shredder was ominous to be sure, but those things outside were terrifying. "It's really bad out there. I don't think whoever it was you were expecting are coming," she said quietly. As if to accentuate her point, a large blast sounded in the not-so-far-off distance and shook the entire apartment building. "I'm not leaving. I barely made it in here alive."

"What makes you think you will get out of here alive?" he snarled.

Irritated and tired she snapped back. "You haven't managed to kill me yet. I'll take my chances and you look pretty busted up. Devil you know instead of the freakishly large alien invaders."

"More freaks and monsters, you should be in good company," he muttered.

"I've owed the turtles my life on a number of occasions. Mostly thanks to you and YOUR freaks and monsters."

"Fire with fire." He shifted, holding a blood-soaked towel to his thigh.

On the floor just to her right was an impressive blood stain and a length of iron rod used in cement supports. She put two and two together and left the room. She found a bathroom and a linen closet beside it with towels and sheets. Wetting a few towels and gathering up a bundle of supplies in the sheet she made her way cautiously over to Shredder.

"Get away from me."

"You should be happy I'd rather help you than hide out here with your carcass once you bleed out."

"Such an insolent woman. Just leave it here I'll do it myself."

She dropped everything next to him without a word and a pointed glare. He should know by now she wasn't some pushover who walked ten paces behind a man to stroke his ego. To hell with him. She left the room and the foundations shook again with the scream of a jet overhead to accompany it. April wandered back into the kitchen and locked the door she had stumbled into, for all the good that would do them. This must be a Foot safe house. The men he was waiting here for to help him escape the area weren't coming or tried to and never made it. She resisted the urge to go to the window and look out. She knew it was bad from what she could hear, and she didn't want to attract any attention to the apartment.

She had chills thinking about what was going to happen to her, to New York, to the world. She worried about the wayward ninjas she knew were trying to rally allies to help fight the Triceratons. As things had escalated, they kept her at a distance more and more, afraid for her safety. They were magnets for trouble of every villainous and mutated kind. The more they tried to make peace, the more creatures came out of the woodwork looking to challenge them. She was so tired of it. Not of them specifically, they would always be friends, but of the so-called freaks and monsters that seemed to plague them and the world. Now this. Alien dinosaurs. Amazing.

After a stream of what sounded like machine gun fire April couldn't stand being there alone anymore. She sighed and wandered back. Shredder was awkwardly trying to tie a ripped strip of sheet around his thigh. He was trying to do it only with his right hand, and it was then she noticed the left arm dangled limply at a strange angle. He had cut away the entire leg of his pant on that side and managed to clean the blood from his one bare leg. He looked vaguely ridiculous. Frustrated that she was back and watching him fail his task miserably, he let out a stream of profanity in Japanese.

"I know what that meant, but I'm going to help you anyway because watching you is driving me crazy." He started to protest and she offered him a "shut up", after which he offered her a backhand with his clawed gauntlet. She dodged just in time to feel the blades whistle past her face. Pissed now, she yanked on the sheet and tightened it harshly, causing him to make a noise that sounded satisfyingly like a whimper. She jumped back straight after but the fight had gone out of him for now. He looked pale. There was an awful lot of blood all over the floor and couch and he needed medical attention.

"What's wrong with your arm? Broken?"

"Do I look like a doctor to you?"

"Will you let me look?

"Why?"

"Because unlike you I don't like to see people suffer. I like to be helpful."

He sighed, resigned. Slowly she unhooked his spiked shoulder armor and cape and set it aside. She ran her hands gently but firmly over his muscled arm, then up to his shoulder. His breath was hitching and his eyes were closed above the mask.

"Your arm is dislocated. I can pop it back but it's going to hurt like a bitch."

"Do it."

"Maybe you should take the mask off again? You need to be able to breathe easy and rest. We won't be able to go anywhere for a while."

She started lifting it up and he stopped her with a clawed, bloody hand. "No."

"Are you embarrassed of your scar? It's really not that..."

He pushed her away from him in one swift movement. She almost landed on her butt again. "It is a symbol of my failure to defeat...him. The first of many times to come. That rat," he spat.

She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the pain of Splinter's funeral. "You know he died, right? Four months ago?"

Rage lit Saki's eyes for a moment. "Who? Who took my final vengeance from me?"

"Cancer," she said simply. "Your foe is gone. He suffered losing his family to you, being mutated into a rat, having his new family hunted by you and then a painful disease. Does that make you happy?"

"No. He was destined to die by my blades. To die like a ninja. This is not how it was supposed to end."

Another jet overhead. A loud crash, closer than the rest. "I don't think we get a say in how it ends," April said softly. "I am not feeling very helpful anymore. You were the one that opened Earth up to this attack. Working with The Kraang, escalating the amount of mutants created. Pitting them against the turtles for your hateful vendetta."

BOOM! This time the building shook hard enough to make small objects in the room rattle. Suddenly she was crying, and Saki had no idea what to do. "I am so tired of the aliens, the freaks, the monsters. You are the one who set it all in motion, blindly, hating them all the while. You know what it's cost me? I can't have any sort of normal life and still be friends with the turtles. Try explaining to a friend or hah, a boyfriend, where you are always off to at odd hours. Better yet, DO try to explain. Try getting away from things at work, but wait, my job is to actually report all the weird and wonderful things wreaking havoc in the city. I can only break certain things in the news, others need to stay secret. My life is risked on a near weekly basis. Every time I try to distance myself from the turtles some new threat, often one that you manufactured, comes up and I need their help or need to get the scoop. It's exhausting. It's lonely. It's no way to live and it looks like it's going to be the way I die too."

April stormed back off into the kitchen. She was so pissed at that moment she was half tempted to just walk out the door and welcome whatever the hell her fate was going to be. She looked out the window. There was a downed chopper on the little side street now. The propeller was partially stuck into the brick wall of the house it had landed next to and a small fire outlined the body of a pilot in the cockpit. Shredder limped up behind her and swore under his breath again in Japanese. His hands went to her shoulders and she flinched but didn't try to get away.

"I have unleashed many evils into this world," he admitted. "I spent so much time being used by the Kraang, manipulated by them. Surrounded by the idiot mutants I had created to help me. It seems almost pointless now."

A building a few blocks down started to collapse and the roar of it was too much. April thought she could hear the screaming of the people inside. She let him pull her back enough that they couldn't see out the window anymore, and she turned into him suddenly and cried into his chest. The rumble of the wreckage and rattling windows shook the earth and his very core.

"I've forgotten how to be human," Shredder mused, feeling exhausted. Thinking out loud even though the horrible noise has stopped. What has he been doing with his life? What did he want to do with the rest of it? How long did he even have?

April cried and a warm wet spot spread on his chest. It was a familiar sensation but this time it was tears not blood. This time it was the woman who helped his hated foes, with her smart ass mouth and bright eyes. He looked down and considered what a human should do in this situation. He slowly raised his good arm and placed his hand flat against her back, then held her closer.

"Are they still screaming?" she asked.

"No." Surely.

"If I fix your arm will you call a truce with the turtles?"

The stress was making her thoughts jump around. More jets overhead. Shredder thought it over and agreed. Maybe he would go back to Japan if he made it through this. Leave behind the insanity of mutants and aliens and all-consuming hate.

April grabbed hold of his arm and said she was going to count to three. On two she threw her entire weight into snapping it back into position. He flung her from him again with a holler of pain. He was on his knees in front of the floating counter top when she looked back up at him. His head was down and the spiked helmet was still on. With a one-legged ninja suit and gauntlets on, he was a heartbreaking sight. Trying to hold on to his Shredder persona. She knelt in front of him as well and went for the helmet again, mindful of the sharp edges. His breathing was ragged and he didn't stop her. His hair was damp from the sweats that pain bring and she rubbed her fingers through his thick black hair.

She felt his forehead and it was cold. Her warm hands on him reminded him of the last time he had felt human...when he was in HER arms so many years ago. Before she was taken and this path of hate started. He leaned into her touch and let it warm him. This was the feeling he avenged. This was what he should have had all those years ago. This feeling of contentment, of being cared for, of peace. A crack followed by a booming noise shook the windows and the cupboards in the kitchen all popped open.

April sensed a shift in his mood and he looked her in the eye. "I'm starting to remember what it feels like."

Her mouth went dry. There was so much longing and sadness in his gaze. A flush of heat went through her and her heart stampeded in her chest. She tangled her fingers through the hair on the back of his head and suddenly his clawed gauntlets were on either side of her face, gentle and caressing. Then his lips on hers. Shockingly cautious at first, then deeper as April pressed herself closer. Just a man and a woman together at the end of the world. He sat on the floor and pulled her into his lap, back against the cool counter, and their kissing never breaking. She radiated heat in waves and it felt so good against his cold body, his cold soul.

The next crash of noise brought plaster down on their heads and sent a crack up the wall. Saki shifted so they could stand, gasping at the fierceness of their sudden lust and the world outside. His arm no longer hurt and he scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom of the 'safe' house. She worried over his leg but he didn't care. He wouldn't be running any marathons again but he could walk across a room.

He set her down on the bed and very carefully used his clawed hand to remove her clothing. The cool steel traced from belly to throat and sent a shiver down her spine. She shrugged out of the tatters underneath him as he explored her breasts with his mouth. She tugged at his ruined clothing and he took the hint.

For a moment he stood beside the bed feeling more than just naked. Vulnerable. He wondered how far he could make it before a Triceraton ended him this time. He had not been naked for a woman in a long while but she looked at him eagerly. In fact he was taking too long thinking and she was crawling across the bed to where he is stood and... "Oh," he gasped in surprise as her smart ass mouth started showing him how talented it was put to other uses.

It had been a long time since she had been with Casey, but getting head was his favorite and April had developed a real knack for it back in the day. It was all coming back to her as she worked her mouth over him while stroking with her hand in tandem. Feeling his hands grasp her hair and listening to the wonderful sounds he was making she felt strong, powerful. She had taken down the Shredder piece by piece, down to a man with desires and dreams for something other than death and blood and revenge. She could feel him throbbing now, rocking his hips, so close and then there it was, the warm spill of his seed in her mouth. He felt his legs go numb and piled onto the bed before he collapsed. His flat stomach rose and fell quickly and she kissed it and rubbed his chest. She traced old scars and worried over the fresher bruises.

When he caught his breath he swiftly flipped her over onto her back, eliciting a giggle he didn't expect from a grown woman. It turned to moans as his lips found another pair of lips to kiss and lick. His arms stretched up to grab her breasts and he thrilled her with his mouth and the fast flick of his tongue over her clit until she was writhing so much it was hard to keep pace with her. He was rock hard again and aching to loose himself inside of her.

There was a horrible low rumbling noise from outside. How long had that been going on? No matter. He put his face into the crook of her throat and entered her easily. She was so wet and soft and her legs wrapped around his back, clutching him close as he drove into her again and again. His injured leg began to cramp and he flipped her on top so he could stretch it out and give her control. She took a moment to adjust and started riding him fast and hard. More noise and more plaster dusted them as April climaxed loudly enough to drown the rest of the world out in Saki's head. Then he let go, it seemed, of everything. His grudge, his wasted time, his perceived shortcomings and just came. Hard. April toppled over him, spent.

Panting, they held on to each other until the aftershocks subsided, both inside and out. April checked on his leg and it was bleeding again. "I should change that dressing," she said breathlessly.

CRACK! A fine crack split one of the bedroom walls up the middle. "It's fine. I think maybe you should make a run for it."

"I'm not going to just leave you here," she said quietly. "Where would I go? Even to try and run for help, I don't know what parts of the city still have a resistance. I have a Turtle Com but they haven't contacted me in two days. I have no idea where to run to and would probably get blown to bits if I tried."

"I don't have any intel from The Foot either. I've been cut off all day."

Something crashed into the building many floors above, startling them both. "That was right above us wasn't it?" April asked.

"Yes."

They held each other close. Saki was so pale from blood loss and getting cold again but April smiled for him. No tears, just bright eyes. Then the high pitched, wrenching squeal of metal above. He looked at her and the world shook.


End file.
